Members of the Catholic clergy of the United States (1st photo) celebrate with the crowds at St. Peter’s Square on Thursday after US Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is named the new pontiff. In the Peruvian city of Chiclayo, where Prevost had served as bishop for eight years since 2015, the faithful, including a woman holding his photograph (2nd photo), gather outside the Cathedral of Saint Mary to join the worldwide celebration of the new pope, Leo XIV. It was a heady week for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics as they anticipated the outcome of the conclave that began on Wednesday morning. Among the cardinals considered by the flock as “papabile,” or electable, were Luis Antonio Tagle and “dark horse” candidate Pablo Virgilio David who, together with Jose Advincula, led the Sunday Mass (3rd photo) at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome ahead of the conclave. Only 38 hours after it began, white smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney signaling that the cardinals had elected the next leader of the Catholic Church. —PHOTOS BY REUTERS
CALM BEFORE THE POLLS
Teachers at Commonwealth Elementary School in Quezon City report for work on Saturday to put some order on voters’ lists and prepare the classrooms as voting areas. Despite the full preparations for Monday’s polls, schoolteachers, police and other personnel led by the Commission on Elections may be confronted by the confusion and disorder accompanying the expected turnout of 68 million voters, while observers will likely focus on the computerized counting on which they will assess the conduct of Election Day. —LYN RILLON, GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
